The Martial Arts Project: Exploring the Use of the Martial Arts as an Intervention for Young Offenders with Substance Influenced Violent Offences

Abstract

Youth-committed violent offences comprise a large percentage of overall violent offences in Canada that include violent non-fatal and fatal offences, costing its citizens 7.95 billion dollars annually. Many of these offences have also occurred while under the influence of a psychoactive drug. Youth crime in general has decreased nationally in the past ten years. However, youth crime rates continue to remain high in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, doubling the national average. Traditional therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and multi-systemic therapy, have been used to address substance use and violent behaviors in young offenders and have shown success. This study explores the question of the effectiveness of alternative methods of intervention, such as the martial arts, for young offenders with substance influenced violent offences. Unfortunately, there is the idea among society and organizations that work with this population that exposing violent young offenders to the martial arts will create more violent and aggressive offenders. This qualitative phenomenological study explores the lives of adult martial artists (n = 5) who attribute managing or overcoming their addictions and violent and aggressive behaviors to their participation in the martial arts. The study also explores the experiences of service providers (n = 17) who work with the young offender population and identifies their perceptions on the use of the martial arts as an intervention. Results revealed that service providers find this population challenging and frustrating to work with due to their lack of motivation to change, as they are surrounded by a negative environment and lack of pro-social support in the community. The service providers felt that the martial arts would be a beneficial intervention. The findings of the present study provided a much clearer description of the mechanisms within martial arts that contributed to behavior change, such as supportive pro-social instructor and peers, giving them a sense of direction in life, learning how to cope with their emotions, and learning life lessons through training, such as perseverance and hard work, where other studies were unable to find the evidence.